


Behind The Façade

by scarletladyy



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: M/M, Unusual Career
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-13
Updated: 2010-01-13
Packaged: 2017-10-06 21:51:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletladyy/pseuds/scarletladyy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Neville Longbottom finds himself on the losing end of an accidental marriage with Pansy Parkinson, he hires one of the best Wizarding Lawyers, Harry Potter, to represent him. Pansy does the same, only her choice of lawyer just so happens to be Harry's business rival, Draco Malfoy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Behind The Façade

"You'll never guess who came to the office today," said Harry as he put his briefcase on the kitchen table and loosened his tie.

"Who?" Ron asked, a mouthful of food, as per usual. He still hadn't changed in all the years Harry had known him, and they'd been roommates since they left Hogwarts; they were so close, it just naturally made sense.

"Neville. Poor bloke."

"Neville? I didn't even know he was married. He could've invited us to the wedding."

"Yes, well," Harry was grinning. "There's something you ought to know."

"Mhm?"

"You'll never guess who his wife is!"

"Hannah, I expect."

"Nope." Harry stifled a laugh as Ron scowled at him.

"Well, who then?!"

"Pansy Parkinson!"

"Pansy Parkinson?" said Ron, bewildered. "You can't be serious! He wouldn't marry her!"

"Well he did! It was an accident though."

"How on earth do you marry someone by accident?" Ron's mouth was wide open. He was grinning, and his eyebrows were raised in amusement. That was something only Neville could do.

Harry sat down with a cup of tea next to Ron, who was so surprised he had actually stopped eating.

"Ahh, you see – that's the funny part. Apparently they both got drunk, at that party that we missed last week because we were at your mum's, and were coerced into marrying each other. Neither was in their right mind, obviously."

Ron scratched his head. "It's not like Neville to get drunk, though, is it? He was always so....reserved."

Harry snorted. "_No one's_ reserved after a break up, Ron. Not even Neville."

Ron nodded absently, and waved his hand for Harry to continue.

"Well, according to Neville, he and Hannah had just broken up at the time. He was in a right state, too depressed to care where he was going. His moping led him to a bar, he somehow got involved in some sort of party or other, and, well, you can pretty much guess what happened after that."

"Wow," Ron drew a heavy sigh; Neville was the one person he thought would never get into such trouble. "So he's hired you, then."

"Of course," Harry grinned smugly. "I am the best."

Ron raised his eyebrows in jest. "Well, I mean there are two of you competing for that title..."

Before Ron could say anymore, Harry cut him clean off. "Don't you even think about it. Malfoy is not a good lawyer."

"Er, right, so when are you meeting the two of them?" Ron was trying to break the tension; he knew what Harry was like whenever anyone mentioned Malfoy being the best lawyer in Wizarding Britain, aside from him.

"First thing tomorrow morning. Speaking of which, I'd better get my notes ready." Harry promptly left the room lugging his briefcase and a very full bag of books behind him.

*

It was just starting to get bright when Harry woke up the next morning to go to work; Ron, as usual, wasn't up yet. He worked for his brother's joke shop and they were quite liberal about the time he showed up. Ron, as lazy as he was, took this to his utmost advantage.

Scoffing down a piece of toast and some pumpkin juice, he grabbed his briefcase and the notes he had reviewed last night and left the flat to apparate to his the office at his firm.

None of Harry's current employees had been with him at Hogwarts. Aside from Ron, who he'd been sharing a flat with since fresh out of school, he hadn't kept in touch with anyone. His other closest friend, Hermione Granger, was usually too busy with her S.P.E.W activism project for the Ministry, and so the two hardly ever saw each other anymore. The only other person who Harry had made an effort to stay in contact with after Hogwarts had been his ex girlfriend, Ginny. Of course, after Harry had come out to her as gay and they'd broken up, his attempts to stay friends with Ron's younger sister had been near impossible. Not that Harry could really blame her.

Harry was only grateful that Ron hadn't decided to hate him after that. It had taken him a while to wrap his mind around the fact that his best friend liked blokes, and without time and Hermione to knock sense into Ron, it might never have been possible.

As for the issue of Ginny? Ron had been upset at first, angry at Harry for breaking his sister's heart. Harry had artfully mentioned that then, at least, Ron wouldn't have to catch them snogging on the living room couch anymore. Thank Merlin Ron agreed.

Most tasks at the firm were handled by Harry himself; his employees usually took care of the paper work while he covered the more arduous assignments. He couldn't deny it, he was excited about starting the case today because of the unusual Parkinson-Longbottom divorce. It wasn't that he didn't have enough clients; no, most of the time it could be said that Harry was sufficiently over-worked. It was the pairing itself that made things interesting: there wasn't a couple alive who were as unsuited and unlikely to walk into his office as these two.

He was having a meeting with Neville, Pansy, and her lawyer in a few hours, and as much as he hoped Malfoy wouldn't be her attorney, he knew that he would be. If he was completely honest with himself, he would have admitted to being excited about working against Malfoy again. Draco Malfoy was Harry's rival in the work force, and an absolute prat. There was nothing Harry enjoyed more than getting one up on the stuck-up bastard. The last case they'd worked against each other on had left them even, so if Harry won this case it would bring him into the lead. Nothing made him happier than the sight of Malfoy's face when the scale tipped in his direction, and Harry had every intention of seeing it as often as he could

The first thing Harry saw as he stepped foot into his office was the back of an all-too-familiar blond, who he immediately recognised as once being his school enemy and now chief competitor to his business.

Harry sighed and leant against the doorway. "What are you doing here, Malfoy? The meeting doesn't start for a while."

Draco swivelled around to face Harry, smirking. "My client wished to start at an earlier time."

As if on cue, a dark haired woman appeared from behind Malfoy, her hair shining in the morning sunlight coming through the office window. Her hand was on Malfoy's shoulder possessively and when she looked at Harry her eyes narrowed.

Harry rolled his eyes at her efforts to intimidate him and said, "I'm sorry, Mrs Longbottom, but your husband will not be here for another hour or so."

"**Do not call me that!**" She shouted aggressively, her other hand now firmly planted on her hip. "And I don't care. Get him here now!"

"_Sssh_, Pansy," Draco said calmly, stroking her hair with his hands. "Well, Potter?" He eyed him, almost disdainfully.

"You'll have to wait in the hall," Harry shot back, "There's nothing I can do."

Harry took his briefcase and set it on his desk, sat in his chair and turned to his files on the morning's case.

"Have you never heard of apparating?" Parkinson snapped, before she was dragged out of the office by Malfoy. She made sure she had the last action by slamming his office door shut.

Harry glanced up at his shaking door frame and sighed.

*

An hour later and Neville stumbled into his office, his hair disheveled, shirt untucked, and his shoes untied. It was clear he had only just woken up.

"Hi, Harry!" he said breathlessly, waving his arms about and smiling at him. "Sorry I'm late!And thanks so much for offering to get me out of this mess!"

Stifling a chuckle, Harry got up from his chair, walked across the room, and patted Neville on the back. "Don't worry about it. After all, I'd be stupid toturn an offer like _this_ down..." Seeing the crossness in Neville's eyes, Harry realised his mistake, apparently, those kinds of jokes would have to wait.

"Right, if you would follow me..." Harry left the office with Neville right behind him, and headed towards the waiting area. He paused as he entered the large, open room, at the sight of Malfoy seated calmly in a chair, drinking tea, and Parkinson beside him, nervously tapping her feet on the marble floor.

"Malfoy, Mrs Longbottom -"

"I said, _don't call me that_!"

"- Miss Parkinson," Harry corrected, disinterested, "if you would please follow me." Harry led the three of them into a private consultation room across the hall, where there were eight chairs and a table for them all to sit around. In the center of the table, his secertary had laid out a jug of water, with cups nearby, and an assorted tray of biscuits. The wallpaper was red, with a golden lion pattened on it, and the floor was wooden to match the table. It was one of Harry's favourite consultation rooms - the one he had personally decorated himself.

Parkinson and Malfoy took the two seats on the left side, and Harry and Neville took the ones opposite them.

As Neville and Parkinson sat back awkwardly, eyes shifting around the room, avoiding each other, Harry and Malfoy got our their necessary paperwork.

"If it's alright by you, Potter, I'd like to start first."

Harry waved his hand uncaringly, looking at Neville's listed reasons for grounds of divorce.

"My client doesn't agree to the proposed annulment -"

"What?" Harry interrupted sharply. "How can you _not_ agree to the annulment?" The question was pointed at Parkinson, who was smirking.

"Well, you see, Potter...."

Malfoy put his hand gently on her shoulder to stop her talking. "What my client was about to say is that she would rather separate from Mr Longbottom upon grounds of divorce, rather than grounds for annulment."

Harry stared at Malfoy in outrage. What the hell was he playing at? "Not only did Mr Longbottom and Miss Parkinson not have sex, but they were both heavily intoxicated at the time of their marriage!"

"Those are the grounds of annulment there, yes, but my client does not agree to one. We propose a divorce, instead. Now, my client has stated she would like twenty-five per cent of her new husband's earnings per annum -"

"What? No way! We're not agreeing to that!" Harry argued heatedly, thinking this whole situation was completely absurd. "Look, you were both inebriated at the time of marriage and therefore they _will_ be getting an annulment."

"...Actually," Parkinson spoke up, her smile turning smug and the corners of her mouth twitching. "I wasn't."

"You mean to say you married willingly?" Harry asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes."

"But...what? _Why?!_" Harry's eyebrows shot up further.

"A joke." Pansy said simply, waving her hand. "On him, of course. Albeit, a bad one."

"Right, well, there goes your grounds for annulment, Potter. Onto the divorce matters...."

"Look, no -" Harry tried to intervene, but since the grounds of annulment were now firmly scrapped, he didn't know what to do. He looked at Neville desperately.

"You evil cow!" Neville spluttered, eyes wide, and jumped up from his seat.

"Now, now, Longbottom...." Malfoy's sneered, "there's no need for that kind of talk."

"What? But...! How can you support someone who got me into a joke marriage?!"

"It's you, Longbottom. Nobody cares."

"I care!" Harry stood up for his friend.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "What a surprise."

"Oh, get over yourself, Malfoy. I don't know how you get any clients."

"Could say the same thing about you. Have you not checked the paper recently, Potter? Or was seeing the news of my skyrocketing popularity too much for you?"

Harry scowled angrily, unable to make a proper retort. It was true, after all.

"Seems the golden boy isn't so golden anymore. Maybe people have finally gotten tired of you?"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Harry snapped, jaw clenching. He leaned back into his chair and folded his arms over his chest. Malfoy's words hit far closer to home than he would have liked.

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand? I haven't got all day you know." Parkinson snapped impatiently, sitting back down and glaring at Harry.

"Look," Harry sighed, opening up his files again. "Miss Parkinson is an incredibly wealthy woman. Mr Longbottom's monetary assets can't even compare to hers. I don't -"

"That is not the _point_, Mr Potter," Malfoy interjected, smirking. "Now that they are married, she is entitled to half of everything he owns." Taking a look at Neville's shabby clothes, Malfoy felt the need to add more. "If he even owns anything," he muttered this under his breath, and luckily for him, neither Harry nor Neville heard.

Harry and Neville didn't say anything. They both sat there glaring at him, trying to keep their tempers under wraps. Harry knew it would be best to keep this as professional as possible. This was, after all, his career, and unlike Malfoy, he _could_ be professional.

"Miss Parkinson is being very generous by only requesting twenty-five per cent of his earnings a year. I think that's beyond considerate."

"I don't!" Harry couldn't understand Malfoy's definition of 'considerate' at all. Neville's income was nothing compared to Parkinson's. He _needed_ that money to live. Could the two of them really be so cruel? Harry closed his eyes and exhaled from his nose deeply.

Scratch that: of course they could.

"Look, you can't do this. Neville's earings aren't -" he started, and then paused. Suddenly, it hit him. He looked at Parkinson and frowned. "Hang on. How about _your_ earnings.

Parkinson's eyes narrowed. "I don't earn anything, Potter."

"No, maybe not, but you do have a large estate and many monetary funds." Harry paused again, and then a smirk broke out accross his face. "Mr Longbottom is, rightfully, entitled to half of that."

She gasped and turned to Malfoy, who was fuming.

"I think not, Potter."

"Oh, Potter is it now?" mocked Harry. "I thought you were professional."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "There is no way _he_ is getting his hands on anything Miss Parkinson owns."

"And why not? If you are insisting on his earnings -"

"What is _wrong_ with you, Potter?"

Harry was taken aback by Malfoy's question. What did that have to do with their discussion? "I could say the same about you, _**Malfoy**_," he tossed back.

"You think because you're the golden boy – or _were_, rather – that you can take people for a ride?"

Harry let out a sharp laugh. "Take people for a ride? _You_ can talk!"

"Why yes, Potter, I can. How observant of you." Draco drawled condescendingly.

Harry stood up and banged his hands on the table, clenching them to keep from grabbing his wand and hexing the hell out of the git.

"We stick to our demands."

"I don't care. You're disgusting, Malfoy. Is this how you do all your business? I'm surprised you get away with it."

"Well, I am a Slytherin, after all..."

"That's nothing to be proud of," muttered Harry, still standing. He ran his fingers through his disheveled hair in exasperation, a habit he'd had since before he could remember.

"On the contrary, Potter, considering how well my business is doing in relation to yours, I think it is. Bravery isn't going to get you far in this profession, not that I thought you had any anyway." Malfoy stood up and faced Harry, eyes locked on him, bending forwards, his arms on the desk. "Now, shall we get on?"

"We're never going to get through this." Harry stated, eyes cast down, anger rising inside him. "There's no way Mr Longbottom can afford to give her that much!"

Neville nodded in the background, and Harry asked to call the meeting off until tomorrow, so he could process their demands.

"Fine, Mr Potter, if you really need more time to think about it," Malfoy smiled at Parkinson, grabbed his briefcase and led the two of them out of the room. Harry couldn't take his eyes off Malfoy. Just before the pair disappeared out of the room, Malfoy shot him a private wink. Harry winked back.

Smirking inside, Harry turned back to face Neville, who had collapsed in his chair, sighing. "Oh my, Harry."

Harry raised his eyebrows and collected his papers. "Get a good night's rest, Neville. We'll be needing it."

*

"So, how'd it go?" Ron asked as soon as Harry stepped foot into their flat.

"How do you think? Malfoy's still the same bloody git he was in school."

"You say that after every case you have together. So, what happened?!"

"They're demanding twenty five per cent of Neville's earnings a year, and since the marriage was voluntary – don't ask – and they did have sex – yes, don't ask – we can't grant them an annulment. We're having trouble working around their ridiculous. Neville simply can't afford to give her that much."

"She's rich anyway, don't see why she needs the extra money."

"She doesn't _need_ it. She _wants_ it. There's a difference. She's a greedy pug, is what. I'm surprised Malfoy gets any business at all. He's a slimy, sneaky, disgusting piece of -"

"Yeah, well. That's Malfoy for you," Ron interjected hastily, "clearly never grown up." Ron leaned back in his armchair that he was previously napping in before Harry showed up. "So, what are you going to do?"

Harry sighed and fell onto the sofa opposite Ron. "I honestly don't know about that, but I _do_ know that if I don't get a good night's sleep tonight, dealing with them tomorrow is going to be bloody impossible."

*

"Ah, Potter," called Malfoy as Harry walked into his office the next morning. "Thought you weren't going to turn up."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Malfoy. Now, where's that pug faced client of yours?"

Draco narrowed his eyes. "Now, now, Potter, play nice."

He knew Draco was joking with him by the smirk that crossed his face, and Harry stuck his tongue out at him.

"Why are you pushing for this, Draco?"

"I know, it's stupid, isn't it?" Draco leaned back against Harry's desk as Harry closed the door so they couldn't be heard or disturbed. "But, as her lawyer, I have to stand for her demands."

"As her lawyer, you have the right to tell her that what she is asking for is not only unnecessary but unreasonable. Please talk to her and try to convince her to see reason. Neville's nerves can't take any more of this, and we haven't even reached court yet!"

"I can try, Harry. It's fun though, this, isn't it? Leading a double life."

Harry smirked. "If not a little tedious. I don't like arguing with you just because we don't want anyone to know about us."

Draco rolled his eyes. This wasn't the first time they'd had this discussion. "I know, but think of what would happen if our relationship were to get out. What the Prophet would say. I'd rather not deal with that just now, if you don't mind."

"Fine, fine." Harry rolled his eyes. Honestly, he quite agreed; he didn't ever want to find out.

The phone on Harry's desk began to ring, and Harry glanced at Draco before pressing the blinking red switch.

"Mr. Potter?" his secretary's voice sounded from the speaker, "Mr. Longbottom is here to see you. Shall I send him in?"

Harry nodded at Draco, who promptly left the room. "Yes please." He told the phone, then switched the speaker back off.

There was a knock on the door just moments later, and Neville came in, looking as ruffled as ever.

"Hi, Harry. What was Malfoy doing here?"

"Just checking up on things. Listen, Neville. Mr. Malfoy and I discussed things earlier this morning, and he's agreed to be open minded in regards to the case. I'm sure by now he's already had a reasonable talk with —"

"Reasonable? Those two?" scoffed Neville.

"Malfoy is a lawyer, Neville. Despite his… brusque countenance, he _is_ a professional."

"Well, he didn't seem it yesterday."

"Yes, well tensions were high, yesterday," Harry looked out of the window briefly, and was brought back to reality by a cough from Neville.

Harry cleared his throat. "In any case, things may or may not have gone well. We won't know until we get in there, though. You ready?"

Neville nodded, but didn't look convinced in the least. Harry lead him out of his office and towards the consultation room that they'd used just yesterday. From the way Neville hesitated to walk in, Harry figured the poor bloke had already seen too much of it, Court procedures just weren't for him; his nerves were already higher on alert than most people's would be. He was desperately hoping that Draco had found a way to get Parkinson to reconsider before things escalated too far - he hadn't been lying when he told Draco that Neville wouldn't be able to take much more of it.

Harry sat in the seat he'd sat in yesterday, and motioned for Neville to sit beside him. One look across from him had him raising his brows. Pansy was seated in her chair, legs crossed, arms folded, and looking absolutely put-out.

Draco looked bored.

"Mr Potter, Mr Longbottom," Malfoy greeted them cordially as soon as they were seated. "My client has revised her earlier wishes -" At this, an irritated sigh came from said client, and Draco paused only momentarily before proceeding. "- we will now just be asking for a annulment as fast as possible."

"**Yes!**" Neville jumped out of his chair and whooped happily, punching the air with his fist.

"Right," Draco looked at Neville as if he'd lost his mind. "Now..." The next twenty minutes were spent with Harry and Draco drawing up annulment agreements. Before long, Neville and Parkinson were told the annulment would be finalised as soon as the processing was over, which would take place in another two months or so.

As soon as Neville and Parkinson left the room, Draco got up from his chair, circled around the ridiculously long table, hovered himself over Harry, and kissed him fiercely.

"You have no idea how long I've been dying to do that." Draco panted, running his tongue over Harry's upper lip.

Harry moaned and wrapped his arms over Draco's shoulders, effectively using the height difference to pull himself up.

"Tell me about it." Harry murmured, and pressed his body flush against Draco's. When Draco groaned, Harry closed the distance between their faces and brought their lips together once again.

"I'm still in the lead, you know," Draco smirked against Harry's lips when Harry pulled away for air.

Harry chuckled breathlessly and leaned forward again. "Not for long."

The kiss started slowly. It was sensual and languid, nothing but pulling and savoring and wanting. Before long it escalated into sheer desperation, and their tongues intertwined and moved together madly. When Harry shifted, something hard dug into the outer part of his thigh, and he smirked. He pressed his knee in between Draco's legs and pushed upwards, savoring the sound of his lover's excited gasp.

"Tease," Draco breathed, and ran the tip of his tongue along the underside of Harry's mouth. Harry gasped, pushed his body closer to Draco's, and deepened the kiss, completely falling into the routine that followed every time they finished a case together.


End file.
